Merry Christmas!

Well in less than 24 hours I'll be leaving on a jet plane..;) I'll try and blog a little - that is, if my fingers are thawed out enough to type... I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas, and know God's peace and love in a new way this season.Here are a couple of pics from some Christmas parties I've been to!

Christmas decorating

Last night, we were at Julia's helping decorate and baking our first Christmas cookies;) I can't believe December is almost upon us... It really doesn't feel like it, as much as we try - with the music, decorations, etc.. it's just too darn hot!! Instead of going outside in our parkas and hats to hang the lights (as you do anywhere else..), we were in shorts and tank tops, dripping with sweat! Lovely... Well I shouldn't complain, I bet a lot of you out there are sick and tired of the coat thing and the rain... and the cloudy skies...am I right?!!

Snake!

Yes I know they are God's creatures... but sometimes I wonder why He made them... They freak me out! Who wouldn't be freaked out by these things??!!
These are TWO snakes found on our school campus in TWO days.. The brown one was found by one of the cleaners outside a classroom at 10pm at night - even more scary!! Shame, apparently she screamed and ran to the security guard's office at the gate, and they had to call the fire dept - it took 3 firemen to get rid of it! They released it on another part of the island..ugh..
The green one just pitched up in the middle of the school day - luckily one of the yardsman was around to take the beast away.. and released it on the field next door to the school.. ugh..
So needless to say, I'm a little paranoid these days, keeping a watchful eye out - cus you never know when or where you will see these nasty things!

Father here

On Thursday, my dad arrived for a short visit - he's been in China and S Africa the last 6 weeks, and is now homeward bound to Canada this coming Thursday. It's been great having him here :) Lots of shopping on the weekend, and this week, he's visiting his S African buddies he made last time he was here and some other contacts! It's quite exhausting, though - I'm not used to the energy and enthusiasm around all the time! Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful:)) Just different to my normal "quiet" every day routine I have! I will miss him when he leaves this week, but soon - very soon, I'll be home for Christmas;))

Surprise Day Off

Well it's Thursday and guess what? I'm not working!! It's an Indian public holiday, Deepavali where they celebrate good conquering evil (or something like that..!) So I am in my classroom, on my laptop, catching up on some work that has been lagging...Yes I am working, but hey, there are no kids to tire me out! I got to sleep in, make muffins, and leisurely get myself to school by noon! This holiday wasn't scheduled for us, but at the last minute (Friday last week)administration decided to give it to us! I'm not complaining!
My dad was supposed to arrive last night, and I was looking forward to a nice day off with him, but... he missed his flight in South Africa, and so is only arriving tonight instead! Oh well, at least we have the weekend! He leaves again on Thursday for Canada.

Dressing up again

You will start to think that all we do in Malaysia is dress up!! Last week we had our "costume parade" in the elementary school. It gives the kids a chance to dress up, especially North American kids, as they would be doing it for Halloween back home.

Yee-haw!!

Last week we had a Japanese Exchange Day - the grade 3 and 4's from Penang Japanese School came to visit us for the day..(next year, we go there..) so of course we had to put on a song and a dance for them..!!
Our theme was country western, as you can see:)) We set up different stations such as apple bobbing, line dancing, butter making, ect.. to introduce them to some of our ol' western/American ways! The kids loved it.. and the teachers?? Well, I had NO problem getting to bed early that night!

It's mid-semester, meaning first report cards have just been finished, we have parent teacher conferences this week, and well, we are feeling the fatigue on a LARGE scale! Man, I miss those English 2 week half term breaks!! (so jealous they are all on holiday now!!) We have been going straight for 9 weeks now, and we have 8 more to go.. no breaks.. except a long weekend in November! I know we have a nice long summer and fairly long Christmas break (though it's shorter this year:( ) but I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet!! Two months today, and I'll be leaving on a plane.. to somewhere.... ccccold!!

Time to retreat..

This past weekend, I went on a ladies retreat from my church up to the Cameron Highlands. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it! We 29 of us) took over a beautiful guesthouse in the heart of the highlands, where the weather was COOL!! Yes, no hot, humid, sticky weather! It was an amazing time of really going deep... the speakers spoke from their hearts, and touched every one of us. There were lots of tears, lots of laughs, and a whole lot of bonding :) I really didn't feel like coming back to "earth" and back to the routine, mundane life again!
I'm not one to recommend books quickly, but if you haven't read "The Shack" by William Young, I would highly recommend going and buying it now! It's an amazing book that will change your life! Trust me!


Before the mist came in...

And after the mist came in..!!

Tis the season...

We have entered into Ramadam.. I have thought about it more this year than last year– the Muslim month of fasting.. If you don’t know, (like I didn’t really know until I came here..) Ramadam is a time for the Muslims when they fast from ALL food and drink (even water) for a month – they don’t eat or drink anything during daylight hours. Then they go out and buy food at sundown and absolutely stuff themselves. Some of them eat early before sunrise and then again at sunset. Some only eat at say, 4am. It really hit me when I was driving home from the grocery store last night, and there were just swarms of Muslim people buying stuff from the market. It seems ludicrous… They are such a religious people… their religion instills fear in them.. Kids start this from age 6 - I don't know how they do this in this hot climate - you would think they would dehydrate! I just find it funny that they obey it to the tee, but then eat when the sun is down! What's the point?! Then there is Hari Raya, the holiday that ends their month of fasting - big celebrations!
A friend of mine pointed out yesterday that they have a big party when their holy season is over, and we Christians only begin celebrating DURING our holy season! (ie Christmas, Easter etc) Doesn't that make more sense?

Procrastinating..

On Monday nights, I volunteer my time to be on duty in the computer lab at school for 2 hours so the dorm kids (boarding kids)can come and do homework/surf the net, etc.. It gives me the opportunity to get some work done on the computer too (since I don't have internet at home anymore!) So I guess it's a win-win situation :) It also is a time where I can catch up on blogging!! So, watch for the "Monday night specials" on this blog!
BUT, I also have a bunch of marking to do tonight... hmmm... mark or blog, that is the question...;) Guess you can see who won this battle!
Nothing too exciting has been going on here... apart from the fact that I am getting my apartment painted this week! I'll post some pics when it's done... I won't tell you the colour yet.. it will be a surprise ;)
Okay.. I'd better finish my marking now..

mmm... refreshing...

This is one of my favourite drinks... ROOIBOS ice tea!!! Yes it's the real thing - from South Africa:) It's healthy with no added preservatives etc ect.. which I guess balances out my coke lite addiction..;)

Rain, rain and more rain..

Yes it is in fact rainy season here in Malaysia... Last night it pelted down for hours... It's so weird because you would think there would be some major flooding after huge terrential downpours that last a few hours... But in a matter of an hour, all is dry again... The wonders of living in a tropical country! Yesterday it was really blustery - if you looked outside it looked like a real winter storm going on... but without the cold temperatures! It's fun sometimes to crank up the airconditioning in my room, and snuggle under the blankets and pretend it's a cold winter's day! Oh how I never thought I would miss it! But I do - I really do! It's pretty much shorts and a t-shirt/tank top weather ALL year round! It's rainy season now until Nov/Dec. Then it's dry season. And by the way, rainy season doesn't mean it rains all day like Enlgand or B.C - no, we get plenty of sunshine too!

Happy Merdeka!

I am enjoying a wonderful long weekend - thanks to Merdeka! Merdeka is Malaysian Independence Day... (Aug 31) and it's a big one this year - 50 years they have been independent from the Brits! This day, 50 years ago, Malaysia became it's own country and free from British rule... Not long, eh?! They have been building up to this weekend forever!! (Before I even left for the UK!) And now the day has come and gone, and it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.. traffic wasn't nearly as bad, and I hardly heard ANY fireworks!! I think it all happened downtown in Georgtown.. But usually we hear quite a bit of commotion down on the beach - it was pleasantly quiet this year!
I am enjoying my second year here in Malaysia...knowing the ropes makes life so much easier! I often think back on this time last year and where I was... and I'm glad I've gone through most of the transition! Not that I don't still get hit with culture shock once in a while and get really frustrated at some of the Malaysian ways of doing things.. but it's nice to know what to expect instead of being surprised all the time!
And as far as work goes, it's going really well - I'm team teaching this year with another teacher and we're both tackling a large grade 4 class. We get on really well and having a lot of laughs ;)
I promise I'll be more faithful with blogging from now on..! Oh, and there are some new links on the right of this page (thanks Caron, my IT specialist;)) - including my grade 4 blog - if you want to see what's happening in our classroom from day to day - each day a different student has a chance to blog - it's kind of cute the things they write :)

A few more pics from Europe..

Back in the Groove...

I know I haven't blogged in absolute AGES... but... travelling the world has kept me busy for a little bit! I'm back in Malaysia, and for the past week, I've been stuck in my classroom doing lots of work to get ready for the new school year! The kids return tomorrow, and I'm ready... finally ready. This start of the year has been much less stress than this time last year! Even though I've had to set up a new classrooom and am teaching a different grade level, I still feel like I have everything under control... unlike last year! So... here's to another fab year in Malaysia ;)

Hopefully very soon, I'll get a slideshow going with some of my Europe pics on. For now, I'll just post a few, as time is really short, and I need to get home!

Europe Itinery

Thought I would let you know where I'm going to be heading in Europe this summer! Here is a simplified version!
1. Arrive in Kent, UK on July 4. (Visiting with friends, doing the British shopping and eating I've missed!)
2. Rendez-vous with 2 American friends (that I work with here in Malaysia) in London, catch the Eurostar to Paris.
3. Paris for 2 nights
4. Over night train from Paris to Nice
5. Nice for one day and one night
6. Train from Nice to Milan, Milan to Lake Como (Italy). Stay in Lake Como for one night
7. Ferry up the lake to Verenna, day in Varenna, then train to Venice (Venice for 3 nights)
8. Train from Venice to Florence. 2 nights in Florence.
9. Train from Florence to Lucca. One night in Lucca.
10. Train from Lucca to Cinque Terre. One night in Cinque Terre.
11. Train from Cinque Terre to Milan. One night in Milan.
12. Fly back to London from Milan.
13. Kent for 2 nights
14. Fly back to Penang, Malaysia!

We have pre-booked all our accomodation in Europe... They are all hostels, but nice quaint hostels! We have managed to book private rooms (triples) so we aren't in a big dorm with strangers! Will keep you posted with pictures, etc.!

I'm going to freeze!

Well, hopefully not! I just looked at the temperatures in the UK - 17 degrees celsius! (in comparison to 32 degrees here...) Aaah! That's like winter! Ok, my British friends out there, please tell me I'm going to have some warm weather while I'm in England! Or I may be borrowing your jumpers and jeans!

Addictions...

Well the painting is done for now... and I've moved onto another addiction... Anyone been watching the TV series Prison Break? Well, Wendi and I have been totally addicted to watching it the last few days... A friend from work has season 1 and 2 (Season 3 has just finished in the USA) and so we borrowed them to watch... Well, when all the episodes are on DVD, with no commercials... it's very easy to just keep watching! So yesterday was Prison Break marathon day... We started watching at 1pm in the afternoon, and didn't finish til after midnight!! (Of course we took a break to go get indian food for dinner across the road!) It's an excellent series, and highly addicting! We're now done with season 1 and are taking a break today and will probably start season 2 tomorrow... (Keep in mind there are about 24 episodes in one season!) My goal is to finish season 2 by the time I leave for England:) Aaah yes but that's what the holidays are all about, aren't they?! Don't have to feel guilty about not doing work... no time constraints... it's a wonderful feeling;) I know soon I will want to feel like doing something contstructive... but for now, this is good...The weather these days has been very conducive to vegging out too... It's been really stormy and rainy and blustery... The sea has been amazing to watch - the waves have been crashing into our yard in the front! Usually the sea is really calm, but not the last few days - it's been wild and crazy!! It's been a nice change from the hot sun to be honest, and I think I'm getting aclimatized, because I actually felt like wearing pants today! (It's a little cooler than normal, but compared to Canada or England it's still fairly warm) If we didn't have summer all year round, I'd be a little bummed about the rain on my "summer" vacation, but to not have to have the ceiling fans on all the time, is actually quite pleasant!

Painting!

Fingers, toes, nails... full of paint:)) I've been doing a little DIY this first week of holidays! On Tuesday I went to Georgetown and got some more paint for my bathroom (yeah, I started painting my bathroom purple in February, and then ran out of paint...) So I've been living with a half -painted bathroom that has driven me scatty... but like I actually had time or energy to do it during the crazy school term! So, yes, I got paint for the bathroom, which then inspired me to paint my kitchen! I actually got my kitchen painted for me - since the school gives us RM500 a year to do stuff like this, I hadn't spent any of it, so decided to hire a painter to do all the work! Now, to date, I have my bedroom (sage green), bathroom(purple), and kitchen (rusty red) done! And guess what... I have been thinking of doing the rest of my living area as well!! Yes, I think I've gone mad - if you see the huge walls I have in my living/dining area, you would understand! So I'm going to go and negotiate with the finance guy at school on Monday to see what I can get done for me - I really don't want to do all the painting myself!! Contractually, I was supposed to have my apartment painted before I moved in last year, but they didn't... and it's due for a new paint job! So... we'll see!
Below is a pic of my kitchen and living room. The lighting was bad in the kitchen, so I had to get it at funny angles!

Countdown is on..

This is going to be a short post... I am "knackered" (as the Brits would say..:) meaning... exhausted... I think I have finally "stopped" and my body has suddenly realized how tired it really is! I am offically done school now - teachers had to go in this last week to finish up stuff... and I had to move all the stuff out of my classroom and all the grade 4 stuff in - so lots of furniture moving and sorting out!! Still loads to do... but at least I can go in any time (when I get the motivation...) and work at my own pace! I am counting down the weeks now until I leave for England! I'm getting excited about it - seeing friends again and having a good cuppa and chat is what I'm looking forward to the most:) Oh and then I meet up with 2 friends from here and we're going to hit Paris and Nice and then Italy for 10 days! I will give you more info of where we're going in blog posts to come! But for now, I'm going to enjoy these few weeks doing little DIY projects and exploring the island of Penang a little more!

Almost done!!

It's Sunday afternoon, and guess what? I'm not at school planning out my week! Know why? Cus I don't have kids anymore! Yes, Friday was our last day! I still have report cards to write.. but there's always tomorrow to do that!!
This weekend was full of events... oh the most important one being my birthday of course:)) I celebrated in style by going to the Eastern and Oriental hotel for high tea with 7 other gals... It was very fun having a girlie tea party! The hotel is a beautiful colonial hotel on the water front, and we ate and ate... typical English high tea, with scones (with jam and cream..), cucumber sandwiches (and an assortment of others..) and a variety of sweet treats to choose from! And of course whatever tea you wanted! It was a lovely afternoon!
We had to squeeze in the birthday event with everything else that was going on at school... All staff are required to attend all the graduation events at school - hence, high school drama production Friday night, Senior tea Saturday morning, and high school fine arts concert in the evening! Plus a bacalaureate service this morning! Ahhh so many school functions! One more - graduation ceremony on Wednesday night... and then Thursday... free as a bird;))) Here are some pics of the last day of school (my class threw me a little bday surprise party!) and my bday high tea..

A-flippin' and a-floppin'

Presenting.. my new shoe wardrobe!! This is what I wear when I'm not wearing work shoes... (year-round!!) My friends (that live here and went to the States for business) brought me back my shopping list.. Old Navy flip flops in an assortment of colours! The highlight of my week:)) Oh, and I couldn't get Owen out of the picture in time.. so there he is ... playing with the flip flops...

Noises in the Night..

My kitty's new spot - above the TV, just clearing the shelf above!!












Instead of falling asleep to the sounds of drunk people staggering home from the pub, cursing at whoever, and domestic disputes from next door (aah treasured memories of England;), I now have new noises while falling asleep... frogs procreating outside my window, and kareoke singing from the hotel up the road... hmmm... I still think I prefer the latter choices, however horrible they tear the song apart in kareoke...;)

I'm on the tail end of my long weekend... and I can really get used to this holiday thing... well, 23 more school days and I'm work - free.. technically..but there's still all the end of year wrap up after the kids are gone.. especially for me, as I'm going to be packing up my grade 3 stuff and unpacking grade 4 stuff into my room.. yup, I'm moving up in the world... I'm teaching grade 4 next year. So lots of organizing to look forward to!! (sorry for the run-on sentences!!)

Today Julia and I went to one of the fancy hotels to lie by the pool and relax.. This one wasn't free; we bought a pool pass, but we got most of the pass money back in food vouchers from the restaurant - well worth it! The sea was in front of us, the pool, behind us.. (This is Julia with the nachos we ordered... and my toes with the sea view.. like my pedicure?:))

Party Time

Friday night was the "big do" for school. It was a fun evening, and the theme ended up being "The Amazing Race", so we were all sat at different countries, with roadblock, detour ect cards on our tables for decoration, and huge posters (ceiling to floor) of major cities around the world. It was cool. Here are a few pics of us all dressed up!

A time for asking..

It's that time of year at Dalat International School where the end of year "party" is about to happen... It's actually called the "Junior SeniorBanquet" (referred to as JSB) and it's a HUGE deal. The Juniors (Grade 11's) prepare and plan the whole thing - they start at the beginning of the year - and put it on for the Seniors (Grade 12's). It's a way of honoring the senior class who is about to graduate. The grade 10, 11 and 12's plus all the staff attend this event. It's all a big secret as to what the theme is and where it is held.. We are all taken on coach buses from the school, not having a clue where we are going until we actually get to the venue!
So the build up is happening now.. And the big thing is that the guys have to ask the girls as their "dates" - and this is usually a "public" asking... Some things that the guys have done is sing a solo in the middle of class/lunch time in front of students, give flowers, picnic on the beach.. ect. And not only students were asked.. Your's truly was also asked... publicly..:) I was playing ladies indoor soccer after school one day when another collegue/friend of mine walked into the middle of the game with a bouquet of flowers, and came walking toward me! He asked if I would go to JSB with him and of course I accepted:)
Below is a pic of another "asking" where Robbie (grade 12 student) came as a "knight in shining armour" on a horse onto school property! He asked his girlfriend with a bouquet of roses and had another horse with him on which she got on and they left campus, trotting off in the sunset to the beach, where a picnic was waiting... aaahhh:)

Long weekend approaching ..

I know I haven't blogged for a while - sorry! But ya know, the life of a teacher just doesn't stop! I did my first school trip today - yes, quite different than planning one in a western country! First, you have a bit of a language barrier.. then you have "Malaysian time" which is called "rubber time"..it kinda can stretch in both directions! But it ended up being a great day - we went to the University of Malaysia where they have a museum on space stuff and things we've been doing in Social Studies. Our "guide" did a great job of giving us a bunch of activities to do. So, yes, I am now sitting on my bed, thoroughly exhausted, eagerly anticipating "Friday" (actually Thursday..) tomorrow... Yay for a long weekend! Oh, but you must be impressed - I also ran (yes, RAN) a mile and walked a mile tonight too! TWO miles of excercise... You can say "Wow" now... ;)
Oh yeah, we had a chocolate party too in our class this week. (We just finished reading the novel, "The Chocolate Touch") One of my kids' parents has a chocolate fountain... which we ALL enjoyed:) Yet another pic of me eating..

And here's my kitty, (who's growing every day!) with his new friend, Sammie. (Wendi's dog)

Happy St Paddy's!

St Patricks day is almost upon us... not like it's a big celebration or anything..! But hey, cus I have Irish blood, I'm going to celebrate!! So I'm doing a little brunch for some friends on Saturday... Tomorrow is a holiday - yay! No school!! I don't think it's a national holiday, just a Dalat one! But we all need it... this week our school went through an inspection to get accredited... So a lot of prep ect was involved! They were very impressed with our school, and
had more commendations than recommendations, so we're all good!

In case some of you are thinking spring isn't coming, here's an encouraging pic that soon you'll also be able to enjoy the warm sunshine! Here, we're at one of my friend's place. (They have a gorgeous pool in their apartment complex!)

Time for giving up...

It's the season of lent, and for the first time, I am actually making a conscious decision to give up something for lent. I decided to give up coke lite (diet coke) 15 days ago. And it's killing me! I didn't realize how addicted I actually was! But it's so awesome, because everytime I crave it, I make a conscious decision to pray and reflect on what Christ did for us - He gave up his only son!! (A little more of a sacrifice than coke lite I would say!) So, despite the headaches and the bland (but good) water I'm drinking, I know it's good... I have an accountablilty partner for it too - Steve (a friend/collegue at school) has also given it up - which is great - someone I can share my moans and groans with!

More food..

This post is dedicated to my dear friends Caron and Geoff... Another picture of me eating!! We went to TGI Fridays for Wendi's birthday. Mmmmm... good western food at a good western restaurant!

Kitty Update

So my kitten is not a girl... it's a boy. It's official name is Owen. I wanted English heritage, so I named it after Michael Owen.. Okay, so he's welsh, not english, but at least it's from the United Kingdom!! My friends wanted to call him Beckam, but I refused!! (my kitten is quite a good footy player:))
One of the highschool girls has the brother kitty and she brought him over this afternoon.. well, they certainly didn't remember that they were related and once played very well together (only a week ago..) They were hissing and growling at each other!! We couldn't believe it! No more play dates for a while..!!
Owen spends a lot of time sleeping.. compared with his brother that is sooo full of spunk! I'm kinda glad mine is a little more placid and relaxed;) He also loves playing with my shoes and watching my laptop!
Here are a few more pics:

A typical Saturday..

It dawned on me that I only ever post "events", or things that I've done. So I thought I would tell you what a typical weekend would be like for me. Like today...
8:34am: get up
9:07am : walk to school and pick up the school car and drive to the market to buy fruit and veg and eggs
10:00am: Drive home, pick up Wendi, go grocery shopping
12:00pm: Come home, drop off groceries, go back to school to drop off car. Do some work in my classroom
3:00pm: Paint my bathroom! (And run out of paint...) - will post you pics when it's all done... looks so cool:))
5:00pm: Shower, get ready to go out for dinner
6:00pm: Go out to Italian restaurant in Batu with girls from church.
9:00pm: Decline night market shopping and get ride home with the non-shoppers!
9:30pm: Sit on the couch with my kitty and tea and toblerone chocolate watching Gilmore Girls on TV.
10:30pm til...??: Email, blog.. ect.. think about hitting the sack...

So... I don't paint my bathroom every weekend.. but trying to get some DIY stuff done now and again!

You might have found this blog entry interesting.. you might have not.. in any case, it sort of gives you an idea of "normal" things I do..
Gotta go get some shut eye now!!

my valentine...

I have fallen in love... ok, don't all gasp at once now.. :)) It's not what you think... The day after
story..;)) I found myself falling in love with a kitty... There was an abandoned litter at a Valentines day (which over here is a HUGE deal - like a national holiday.. but that's another student's house across the street from the school. And word got out about these kittens.. So I ended up taking a 5 week old little thing home with me! He/she is sooo cute! Not quite sure if it's a him or her yet.. I was told when I picked it up that it was a boy, but then the vet (I took it in for de-worming and flea bath) kept calling it a "she"... (Though he is known to get his pronouns mixed up as he's Indian and English is not his first language!!) So, we shall see... when it gets a little bigger, and I take it in after a month for it's first shots, I will ask the vet straight out if it's a male or female! For now, "her" name is Libby:)) She's already getting into mischief, but since it's still a tiny baby, play time is short and nap time is long and very frequent!

batik painting

Last weekend, I went batik painting with a few of my collegues from school. It was a lot of fun! Batik is a traditional Malaysian type of art. Let me explain... It's done on cotton fabric, where wax is poured to outline your picture, then you "paint" inside the waxed outline. It's like water colours, as you just have to dab some paint onto the fabric, and it just runs til the wax part. Hope this is making sense!! Anyway, I made 4 napkins - only RM8 each! A very cool and relaxing thing to do on a Saturday morning! The Batik factory is in Batu which is only about a 15 min car ride from home.

Aches and Pains today..

I am sooo sore today... good reason though.. I played indoor soccer last night for 2 hours! Aaah - showed me how unfit I am! But it was so much fun:) One of the young athletic teachers has started an informal indoor soccer club for ladies only - yay:) So there are a bunch of high school girls, few staff, and some parents that come. It was a blast - not too serious, but there were enough serious gals that made it exciting and competitive! It's going to be a great way to stay in shape and have fun at the same time:)

Party Time!

This weekend was full of social events.. I am thoroughly exhausted today! We celebrated a bunch of birthdays together which was a lot of fun. First a group of us went to a Thai restaurant for the best Thai food, then went onto another place for drinks and then a bit of dancing til 2am! Church was a little hard to get up for Sunday morning, but I did! Then after church some friends had a barbeque at their gorgeous pool in their apartment complex. To finish it off, we watched the Australian Open men's final with Baskin Robbins ice cream:)
Below are a few pics of our "wild" night out!

Chinese New Year, here we come...

Well, it was back to school this week... quite a shock to the system after sleeping til 9am every morning! But it felt good to get back into a routine, though I had to take a nap when I got home most afternoons this week!
Chinese New Year is approaching... well, not for another few weeks still, but it everywhere you go, you see decorations - it's like our Christmas for them. Oh, and it's not only the decorations you have to put up with.. Every store you go into there is Chinese music.. now, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of music - I mean, I can put up with it for a while, but we're talking a month of this!! I have never done my grocery shopping so fast as I do these days - aaahhh! Another 3 weeks of it.. And the traffic is just going to get worser and worser!! The ONLY good thing about Chinese New Year is that we have a long weekend - yay! We get Mon and Tues off in mid February. And it's unlikely I'll be going very far that weekend since everywhere will be soooo busy:( But I'm not complaining... time to chill :))

Pics from KL trip

Thought I would post a few pics of my trip to Kuala Lumpur (from now on, referred to as KL!) I went with 3 other friends, and not only did we do the Ikea thing (our main reason for going of course!), but we went to KL CC and went up the twin towers to the sky bridge! Very cool! These pics are of the twin towers, on the sky bridge, and dinner that evening.